HAAS FAMILY PLANS TO RUN ITS FUNNY CAR IN MATCH RACES, FUNNY CAR CHAOS EVENTS

Written by Tracy Renck    Mon, 2021-01-25 17:00

 

Veteran racers – father and son – Joe and Joey Haas are embarking on a new adventure in 2021.

Joe and Joey of Nimrod Motorsports acquired a turnkey big show Funny Car this past summer. The car will be run with a nostalgia '57 Chevy body as well as with a modern 2004 Camaro body in the upcoming season.

Joe and Joey will share driving duties as schedules dictate.

“Driving for people has been great and we have learned a lot and we have tried to build ourselves up to this point and learn as much as we could before we tried to steer the ship,” Joey said. “We are going to match race this Funny Car and we will possibly run it at the Funny Car Chaos deal. Then we will match race at the tracks around us in the Midwest that we have been match racing at for 15 years.”

The Funny Car is a dual mag, 84-gallon big pump car and will be run as such. The '57 Chevy body is themed in patriotic colors and represents an Earned Freedom. The Camaro body will carry the Nimrod name.

“I must thank Lawson Family Racing for giving me the go-ahead for this theme,” Joey said. “This was the plan for the former Quickdraw car before the devastating fire that destroyed Lawson’s shop. Upgrades are being made to the car and as it looks it is scheduled to be complete in late April to early May and testing should begin in May.

“Calling the shots as crew chief will be Scott Shear. Thanks must also be given to Pete Dove, parts and tuning guidance from Tim Wilkerson, Joe Pryor, Jared Lawrence, and of course our wives, Charli Haas, and Elizabeth Haas.”

Joe Haas lives in Central Illinois and works as a control room operator at a power plant and Joey, along with his wife Elizabeth, owns a wedding venue “The Barn at Murphey Farm” in Pleasant View, Tenn.

Joey had a dream come true last season when he made his NHRA Top Fuel debut at the U.S. Nationals, Sept. 4-6 at Indianapolis.

The longtime alcohol Funny Car and Nostalgia driver drove a dragster owned by Terry Totten. He also competed at the Dallas event in Totten’s dragster.

These days Joey is actively pursuing more Top Fuel driving opportunities.

“In Indy I ended up being the very last qualifier in the last qualifying session,” Haas said. “We had to run 4.01 and I ran 3.99 and that put us No. 16. It was like the pressure of my debut and Terry to get the car down the track tune-up wise and everything just worked.

“Then, we went to Dallas and qualified No. 12 and first round I was against Tony (Schumacher). I had a little bit of a lead off the (starting) line and it felt like we were neck-and-neck. I went 3.93 at 301 mph and he went 3.70 something. We were ecstatic with that run. We kept them honest and everything worked good.”

 

 
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